I love the site and have been on checking out this site for a while, but this is my first post. I am fascinated by the Sultan of Brunei custom ferraris and have searched the internet for all the data I can find. I have seen various pictures of the FX and 456 Cabrio at the Marconi Museum, and have also seen the grainy photos supposively taken of the cars in the Sultan's garages, like the red FX, red 456 4-door coupe, and various Bentley and Aston Martin specials. I have searched through all the old posts on this website. I also have the Forza back issues with articles on both of the Marconi cars. However, I am wondering if anyone can provide new information on the cars and any that are no longer in the possession of the sultan (like the 550 Spider seen in Monaco!?!) Whatever info you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
And wow - look at this. Predating the Bentley Continental GT, but you can see exactly where Bentley gott the grill from. It's funny how much manufacturers toy with designs before they actually come out in production cars.
Believe it or not, it IS a Ferrari. Other than complete one-off's, I once saw pictures of a grey F40, right hand drive that belonged to the sultan. And so many more...
Car and Driver had a picture of a white/red F-40 as well. The Sultan also (at one time, no more) had two Cizeta V16Ts that were sent to Pininfarina, and the engines were pulled and 512TR running gear was put in. Why? No one knows....the Cizeta @ the Marconi museum is one of the Sultan's modified 512TR versions
This is my first post here, no Ferrari yet but maybe one day soon, but anyway hello. Quite a few years ago (maybe 5 or so) my dad was speaking to me and just happened to mention that the owner of his company had brought a yellow F40 in right hand drive and the last keeper was the Sultan of Brunei. I don't know if he still has the car, i will ask my dad next time I see him. My dads boss is a real car nut and is a regular on the historic F1 circuit in the UK and has also had numerous Ferraris (no Ferrari F1 cars though) but he has a nice Williams TAG (ex Keke Rosberg). Anyway, back to the F40, I don't know if the car started life as yellow or was repainted at some stage.
The only thing that would make me think it's a Ferrari is the pininfarina badge behind the rear wheel. Other than that, I've never seen this model before. I like it much more than his other custom ones.
Yeah I might have gone too fast on that one... I wouldn't bet any money but sounds like it should be an Aston or similar, despite the PF badge. I'll read and write more carefully next time
There are some other pics here: http://www.geocities.com/sul288us/index.html I'll try to find the link to a story I read that had pictures of all sorts of one-offs, including a Bentley SUV. It also had an anecdote about how when RR changed the wheels for some model year, the Sultan ordered the new design for all his countless RRs and had his henchman throw the "old" ones into the Sea of China!!! http://autozine.kyul.net/article/brunei/sultan.htm - has picture of the Bentley SUV ("Dominator")
One of the 456 Station Wagons was for sale by a dealer in UK last year. I'll try and find out the details. Was advertised in "Classic & Sports Car"